New birth and a living hope.

Published on April 6, 2014

Our Easter verse for this year focuses our thoughts not so much on the facts of the resurrection, important as those are, but on the results it brings into our lives – we have a new birth and a living hope.

The new birth proclaims that we have an eternal and abundant quality in the here and now of our life on earth through the power of the resurrection that continues to offer us new, resurrection beginnings. The living hope looks beyond time and the grave and rejoices in God’s promise that those who follow Jesus will share His glory in heaven itself because by faith, we share the power of His resurrection.

So we look both ways. Looking back we see the Easter story unfold and celebrate “the greatest day in history” when the light of Christ’s victory over death itself shone from the empty tomb. Looking forward we delight in the anticipation of His glory and the promise of a place in His presence, and so our present is illuminated by what God has done for us in Jesus through the cross and the resurrection, and by what God has promised us as and when we share His journey through death and into glory. Light from the past and light from the future enable us to live as children of the light in the present. So wake up!! (Ephesians 5:8, 14)

These are not just vague thoughts to make us feel better at funerals, but a firm and reliable foundation for life and faith. Our Easter response really is: “Hallelujah. He is risen indeed.”